Car Trip Ghost Story
by Stream'sxCupxOfxTea
Summary: Jesus freaking Christ! Who knew Namine was such a good ghost story teller? Now we're stuck in the middle of freaking nowhere. Thanks a lot Axel.


"Thanks, Axel, for getting us lost." Riku's bitter retort drifted up from the back seat in which he, Namine, Sora and Kairi were all cramped. None of them could have been very comfortable, but since Axel was the only one of them who possessed a car, comfort was going to be a luxury they couldn't afford on this camping trip. First chance they got, the six friends threw everything they had into the used, dented car that Axel adored, and headed out into unknown territory.

"Hey, I didn't see you offering to drive." Roxas snapped, staring out the window in annoyance. Driving for five hours straight wasn't his idea of fun. He was half tempted to just tell Axel to turn around and start driving back home; that this whole camping trip idea was a load of shit. Of course, there was that small issue of being lost, and not knowing which way home was. Roxas's cheeks turned slightly pink. Getting lost was probably his fault. After all, he had agreed to be the map reader, and tell Axel which way to go. _"Last time I ever offer my services as a map man." _Roxas thought gloomily, running a hand through his blond, spiky hair.

"Are we-" Sora began to ask, but Kairi cut him off.

"Sora, if you ask 'are we there yet one' one more time, I'm going to file your tongue off with my nail file!" This kind of attitude was unusual for Kairi, but then again, the pampered pink-haired teen probably had never had to suffer through things like this. Her idea of a vacation was flying on her private jet to a private summer home in Hawaii. Not camping for three days in the middle of nowhere.

"That's not what I was going to ask." Sora said, starting to pout. For once, Kairi didn't comfort him.

"I have an idea." That was Namine, who, like Axel, wasn't in the least bit bothered by the unusual turn of events. While Riku, Roxas, Sora and Kairi had come from fairly well off families (in Kairi's case, extremely well off), Namine and Axel had both come from families where ice cream was a treat you saved up three years for. Any kind of vacation was good for her, and she was used to this kind of thing, since her father had hated doing the norm, and had always insisted on taking side roads to get where he wanted. "How about we tell ghost stories to help time pass?"

This idea was met by silence, which meant it was a good idea. Bad ideas were met by everyone shouting at the same time how much they hated that idea. "Let me guess. You have one in mind." Axel's voice, intentional or not, always sounded slightly sarcastic.

"Yes, as a matter of fact, I do." Namine pushed someone's sleeping bag out of her face and began...

XXX  
_A couple was driving through the forest; the man was named Cloud, and the woman was called Tifa. They had been camping out for a couple of days, and had had a great time. The two weren't married yet, but it was only a matter of time before Cloud proposed. Anyways, even though the camping trip had been simply wonderful and they had enjoyed their trip completely, Tifa had work the next day, and it was time for the couple to get home. Only problem was...they were lost-_  
XXX

"Does this story have a point?" Kairi asked nastily. Namine wasn't the least bit fazed by Kairi's rudeness. Riku was.

"Shut the fuck up Kairi." Riku grumbled. "I'm so sorry that the princess has to wait for the story to get interesting. Maybe we should just skip ahead to the good part?"

"What was that silver fish?" Kairi's head snapped around and she glared at Riku, using the nick-name he despised.

"Anyways, what happens Namine?" Axel asked loudly from the drivers seat, putting a stop to Riku and Kairi's spat.

Namine smiled serenely. "I was getting to that."

XXX  
_Only problem was...they were lost. The couple had been driving around for an hour or two now, and Tifa was starting to get nervous. The car was running out of gas, they didn't have any service on their phones, and they hadn't passed any houses in a while. Then, finally, something both had been dreading happened. They ran out of gas. Cloud suggested that they get out of the car, and walk down the road a little ways. With any luck, they would find a house where they could use the phone. Tifa didn't like this idea, but she saw they didn't really have a choice. The two of them got out of the car, and started walking, even though they knew it would be next to impossible to find a house out here._

_But, as if by magic, they did. About two hundred feet away from the car, they saw windows light-up from the inside and the blurry outline of a house. Ignoring the faint feeling in their gut that something was wrong, the two rushed up the drive-way. Up close, the house was a bit of a mess. Lots of weeds grew everywhere, and it looked like the house could use a new coat of paint. But the couple ignored this, since they were so happy to have found a house out in the middle of nowhere._

_When they knocked on the door, an elderly old woman answered the door. She looked confused as to why a young couple was standing on her doorstep in the middle of the night, but when the young couple quickly told her their story, her face split into a smile of motherly concern. She told the young couple to come inside and use the phone. While Cloud used the phone, Tifa looked around the house. It was a nice house, very cheerful and bright. Obviously this old woman (and maybe old man, since Tifa had heard someone in the kitchen), were living comfortably, despite what the outside of the house looked like._

_When Cloud came back, and told Tifa that he couldn't reach the towing service, the old woman offered them a place at her house. She told them her husband was just finishing up dinner, and he could fill the couple's car up with gas in the morning. This seemed like a good idea to both Tifa and Cloud (a hot meal, a place to sleep, and a gas refill), and they agreed._

_Dinner was delicious, and the older couple was nice as nice could be. They chatted away, saying how their children had moved away, and how they were getting too old to keep the house in good shape, thus why it looked like it did. After dinner, Tifa helped the old woman clean up, and Cloud went outside to show the old man where their car was._

_The old woman then lead the two upstairs, and showed them a bedroom in which they could sleep. She added that her and her husband liked to sleep late, so the younger couple might leave when the elderly __two were sleeping. Tifa thanked the woman again for her kindness, and the old woman smiled before closing the door._  
XXX

"Let me guess," Riku began dryly. "They're slaughtered in the middle of the night."

Namine shook her head, blond curls dancing over her shoulders. "Maybe. Maybe not. You'll just have to wait as see."

XXX  
_The next morning-_  
XXX

"Wait, we don't even get to hear about them going at it in some strangers house?" That was Axel. Roxas leaned over and punched his boyfriend on the shoulder.

Namine smiled and continued.

XXX  
_The next morning, just like the old woman had predicted, the older couple were still sleeping when Tifa and Cloud got up. And although the elderly couple had been very nice to the younger couple, Tifa had to get to work, and there wasn't really any reason to stay. The car was full of gas after all. But Tifa fell bad about leaving the old couple with nothing, since they had been so kind to her and Cloud. So, as her and Cloud walked out the door, Tifa placed a crisp twenty dollar bill on the dinning room table._

_Unlike last night, it seemed that Tifa and Cloud's luck was taking a turn for a better. Right when they were about to run out of gas for a second time, they stumbled upon a gas station. As Tifa was filling the car up with gas, a police car pulled up to the station across from her. Tifa started up a conversation with the policeman, more out of the impulse to be polite than anything else. As she told the policeman about the old couple they had encountered in the forest, the policeman frowned. He asked her where exactly the house was. Confused, Tifa replied that the house where the old couple lived had been on a little dirt road called Fairview, about twenty miles away._

_With a strange expression on his face, the policeman told Tifa that no house existed on Fairview. Annoyed, Tifa turned to Cloud, asking him to back her up. Cloud did so, also thinking that the policeman was just planning a cruel and weak joke on them. Frowning deeply now, the policeman asked Tifa and Cloud to show him where this house was. Still unsure of what was happening, and why the policeman was telling them a house didn't exist on Fairview when one obviously did, the two climbed back into the car, and started back for the house._

_When they reached the house though, everything was different. In the first place, there wasn't even a house to speak of. Just a couple of fire-blackened poles, and a few scattered wooden planks. As Tifa and Cloud got out of their car, the policeman told them that several years ago, a house had been here, and an old couple had lived there. No one was sure why they lived out here in the middle of nowhere, and some said it was dangerous. After all, if there was an emergency, help wouldn't be able to get to the older couple's house on time._

_Then, two years after the youngest child had moved out, a fire started; completely burning the house down. When the firefighters had finally arrived, it was too late for them to help. All they could do was make sure the fire didn't spread. Only after the fire had burned itself out were people able to gingerly step inside, and find the depressing sight that greeted them. The old couple hadn't made it out of the house in time. Instead, they had burned to death inside their house._

_Pale, Tifa insisted that her and Cloud had spent the night here, and that there had been an older couple living in the house. Sighing, the policeman suggested that they step inside the house, and see what they could find. As Cloud helped Tifa across the fragile, twisted wood that had once been the door frame, Tifa screamed. Looking around, Cloud and the policeman saw, at the same time, just what had terrified Tifa._

_And there, sitting on a charred stump of wood, was a fresh twenty dollar bill..._  
XXX

The end of the story was greeted with unusual silence, until Sora's timid sounding voice broke the stillness.

"But that's just a story, right Namine? That didn't really happen, did it?"

Namine smiled and shrugged. "I don't know. Maybe it did, and maybe it didn't."

Everyone fell quiet again, and after several minutes, the car slowly rolled to a stop.

"Stop it Axel." Riku snapped, and Axel burst out laughing before starting the car again.

"Sorry guys, I couldn't resist."

Several minutes later- "Axel, that's not funny!"

Axel smirked. "Okay, last time, I promise."

"AXEL!" Riku, Sora, Roxas, and Kairi shouted at the top of their lungs.

"Guys...that isn't me." Axel's acid green eyes flicked up to the review mirror to meet Sora's terrified ones, Kairi's nervous ones, and Riku's annoyed ones.

Six teens sat in a car, huddled together as the sun slowly sank. Then, finally, someone spoke.

"So," Namine chirped. "Who wants to get out of the car, and look for a house?"


End file.
